ATP Tour

Nava eyes new career high with Los Cabos statement

Emilio Nava brushed aside the testing conditions on Monday evening in Los Cabos to deliver a commanding opening-round win at the Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo.

The 23-year-old American fired 31 winners in his 7-6(4), 6-3 triumph over Australia's Aleksandar Vukic, securing his first hard-court victory since reaching the second round at the same event last February. With his win, Nava is up five spots to a career-high No. 118 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and will next play sixth seed Buyunchaokete or qualifier Alan Magadan.

“I guess they say ‘Smile through the pain',” Nava said in his on-court interview. “It was super humid, super hot, my shirt was drenched, but I was just having fun out there, just getting after it. I love coming to Mexico to play, especially in Los Cabos. I’m happy to be back, and hopefully I can go for more.”

Fellow American Aleksandar Kovacevic also made it safely through to the second round at the hard-court ATP 250 on Monday evening. The 26-year-old, who is seeded at an ATP Tour event for the first time, snapped his seven-match losing streak by overcoming Hady Habib 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Kovacevic reached consecutive quarter-finals in Los Cabos in 2023-2024 and now owns a 5-2 record at the event, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The seventh seed will next face wild card Luis Carlos Alvarez or James McCabe.

Mexican wild card Alex Hernandez rallied in the early hours of Tuesday morning to defeat Taro Daniel 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 for his second tour-level win. The World No. 493 trailed 3-6, 2-5 before he pulled off a stunning turnaround to score the biggest win of his career.

Hernandez’s first ATP Tour victory came at this venue in 2022, when he defeated Nicolas Barrientos in three sets. Into the second round this year, the 26-year-old will face top seed and 17-time ATP Tour champion Andrey Rublev.

Juan Pablo Ficovich also earned his second career win on the ATP Tour, and first since January 2022, by defeating Alibek Kachmazov 6-3, 6-2 in the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. The World No. 148 has set a second-round meeting with fourth seed Quentin Halys.